Reiji sat by the kitchen table, staring at the necklace around the Buddha statue with grim concentration.
'This isn't right, he thought. The energy within it is flaring up… as if it's scared of something.'
The deadly premonition sent Reiji into a contemplative trance. 'Is there a strong curse nearby?'
His stomach squirmed as an uneasy nervousness took over him.
"Everything all right, young man?" Tanabe asked, concerned by the sudden shift in his behavior.
Reiji snapped his head toward Tanabe and stared blankly for a moment, before forcing a small smile.
"Oh! It's all good, Mr. Tanabe. I'll just go for a stroll," he said, hiding his uneasiness behind a polite tone.
He got up and briskly walked out of the kitchen, entering the hallway. Reiji soon reached the main door and saw the children still playing outside, their laughter echoing faintly through the cool evening air.
"Hey kids, it's time to get in! It's almost night," he called out gently, once again masking the sense of dread creeping up inside him.
"Aww, we wanna play more, big bro!" the spiky-haired kid pleaded, fake tears forming in his eyes as the others nodded in agreement. The chorus of protests was almost coordinated.
Reiji smiled helplessly. 'Look at these brats, exploiting my weakness… how cunning!'
"All right, all right. I'll get you guys more chocolate next time, how about that?"
"Yaaay!!" they shouted together in perfect harmony.
Reiji's heart melted as he looked at their gleeful faces.
'I'm way too gullible' he sighed inwardly.
"All right, in you go now."
The kids went in one by one. The last to enter was Ren, who lingered at the door with a somewhat sad expression.
Seeing the troubled boy, Reiji crouched down to meet his eyes. He brushed a bit of sand from the bald child's cheek and asked softly, "What's the matter, Ren? Didn't you like the gift?"
The boy's eyes welled up, and he shook his head quickly.
"That's not it, big bro… it's just that… everything feels really nice when you're around. It reminds me of my parents…"
As the boy began crying profusely, Reiji's expression softened, and he pulled him into a tight embrace.
Ren struggled to speak between hiccups and sobs. "And then… then the next day you're gone…" he wailed, clutching Reiji's shirt.
Reiji's heart clenched. He didn't want to separate from these kids. In fact, if it were up to him, he would've taken them all under his wing. But life was cruel, and he was in no position to support anyone else. He could barely keep himself alive, after all.
As he gently patted the boy's back to calm him down, a thought formed in his mind; a grand plan that had been lingering there for a while. His expression turned serious.
'The most 'free' person I know of… someone unbound by rules or duty, someone who lives purely by her own will.. is the special grade sorcerer, Yuki Tsukumo.'
'She's attained a level of power where no one dares to order her around.'
Reiji looked down at the boy, who had finally begun to settle down.
"Hey, no more crying, okay?" he said softly, wiping away the boy's tears with his sleeve.
He glanced toward the other children, who were now playing peacefully in the large hall. Their laughter filled the air — pure, innocent, fleeting.
'I need to do better', he thought, clenching his hand slightly.
"Ren, very soon, we'll all be able to stay together, all right? I'll make sure of it."
The distraught boy's eyes widened with a spark of hope. "Really, big bro?"
Reiji smiled gently. "Yes, really."
"Yaay!" Ren squealed, jumping around in pure joy.
Reiji laughed at his antics, a soft warmth returning to his voice. "Now go on, play with the others."
*******************************************************************************
Night had fallen, and Reiji was walking through the woods, searching for any signs of strong curses.
He usually played with the kids until they all fell asleep and then left soon after… but that routine would have to wait for another day.
As the darkness deepened, he realized he didn't actually need a torch or flashlight. For the first time in his life, despite all his misgivings regarding Akame, Reiji tried channeling a small amount of cursed energy into it.
Akame seemed unaffected by his energy and remained dormant. But the disparity between his normal, human-like left eye and the ancient relic was plain as day.
When fed cursed energy, Akame was tens… if not hundreds of times superior to his natural vision. Its basic functions required his cursed energy to activate, and one of them included a kind of night vision. The main technique embedded within it, however, still remained a mystery.
It was a constant battle of senses with Akame active. Normally, the brain merges images from both eyes into a single three-dimensional picture. However, this requires both eyes to be on a relatively equal sensory wavelength.
With Akame operating leagues above his natural eye, Reiji felt disoriented.
A binocular rivalry ensued: bright and vague images fought for dominance. His perception flickered violently between two realities; one crystal clear, the other shadowed and indistinct. The bright image of the wilderness would appear for a heartbeat, then vanish into darkness, leaving him nauseous and dizzy.
As mild vertigo crept up on him, Reiji had no choice but to surrender sight from his normal left eye.
"Ugh, what a pain," he muttered, as the night vision finally stabilized.
After a brief scan of the area, he frowned. "Hm? There are no curses around. Time to go back."
*******************************************************************************
Reiji sat on a worn sofa at the far end of the orphanage hall.
A pleasant smell filled the air as Tanabe prepared delicious fried rice for the children. Mrs. Tanabe had joined in too, arranging the plates carefully.
The kids played without a care in the world, having concocted some elaborate scenario they were acting out with laughter and shrieks of joy.
One of the smaller kids strutted over to Reiji, brandishing a tiny wooden sword. Pointing it at him, the boy roared, "I, the great hero, shall slay the dragon!"
He wore a lopsided plastic crown and a cape made of old rags.
Smiling, Reiji raised his hand and let out a playful roar. "Raaawr!"
"Raaah!" the boy charged at him, swinging the wooden blade wildly. Reiji blocked every strike in an exaggerated fashion until the little warrior finally collapsed in exhaustion.
Reiji laughed heartily.
"All right, kids! Who wants a taste?" Tanabe called out from the kitchen. The rest of the 'hero's army' immediately rushed toward the food.
"N-no… this can't be… my army has abandoned me!" the defeated boy wailed dramatically, flopping onto the floor.
Reiji chuckled as he leaned back against the sofa, completely at ease.
"So tell me, Haru, why do you always play the hero?"
Haru sat up clumsily, placing his crooked crown back on his head.
"Because… I want to be like you, big bro! I wanna protect everyone!" he said, pointing toward the other kids who were now crowding around the kitchen counter.
"Oh? Trust me, kid, I'm no hero…" Reiji murmured, trailing off as the boy looked up at him in confusion.
He rested his head against the back of the sofa, eyes closing as a rare sense of peace washed over him.
But disaster rarely strikes with warning.
Akame activated, suddenly and violently.
Reiji's eyelid snapped open involuntarily as searing pain burned through him. His body jerked upright; one hand instinctively clutching the right side of his face.
The agony was unbearable.
Through Akame, Reiji saw the world begin to warp and then slow down. Each movement around him decelerated… until everything froze.
Everything except Akame.
'What… what's going on?!' Reiji panicked.
'Has time slowed down for me? Did Akame activate on its own? Is this… one of its abilities?'
His thoughts raced frantically.
'No… something on this level would cause massive energy drain... and I don't feel anything like that. An external technique? A curse user?!'
Suddenly, Akame's gaze turned sharply toward the main door.
Without warning, the door splintered apart… shredded into paper-thin strips that fluttered to the ground like dying leaves.
From the wreckage stepped a mysterious figure.
The man wore an azure-green robe adorned with ancient golden patterns. His bare chest, taut with muscle, was exposed beneath the fabric. A fearsome draconic mask covered his face, regal and terrifying. Its surface shimmering with reptilian scales that reflected countless shades of green, from deep emerald to light jade.
Cursed energy radiated from him in oppressive waves. As he stepped through the ruined doorway, the doorframe, and even parts of the wall… crumbled under the sheer pressure of his presence.
Akame trembled. Reiji shivered inwardly, paralyzed by instinctive dread.
The man's power was overwhelming; beyond anything Reiji had ever faced. His cursed energy burned green, it condensed into crystalline gauntlets that stretched from his elbows to his fingertips, ending in jagged claws that gleamed under the faint light.
Reiji watched helplessly as the intruder advanced slowly and elegantly toward the kitchen.
'H-he's after the cursed object!'
Shaking uncontrollably, Reiji's frozen body refused to respond. Akame, however, followed every movement of the stranger through the slits between Reiji's trembling fingers.
'How is he moving freely when time has stopped…? No… it can't be…!'
The man entered the kitchen and muttered something under his breath… words Reiji couldn't make out.
'No…'
Then, the man raised his arm slightly. His cursed energy surged violently, as the air itself seemed to scream.
'No! don't do it!'
The green light erupted, shredding through everything in its path.
Reiji's world became red.
He watched, powerless, as everyone inside the kitchen, Tanabe, his wife, the children, were shredded into a grotesque blur of blood, flesh, and bone.
His mind broke and his body refused to move. Time had betrayed him.
Reiji screamed, but his throat would not obey.
The laughter that had filled the hall just seconds ago echoed faintly in his skull. Looping endlessly like a cruel illusion.
He wanted to close his eyes, but Akame would not allow that. It forced him to watch.
Akame saw it all, every horrifying detail had been carved into his memory.